Update on Moor Park

The BBC have now left Moor Park in Preston following the Radio 2 in the Park event that took place over three days from 6-8 September

Due to the wet ground conditions from heavy rain on the Sunday during the event, the BBC site team only left the park on 20 September, a week after their scheduled departure.

The Council's parks team, in conjunction with the BBC and their event team, have attended the park every day since the event but were unable to carry out a full assessment of the site until after all the crew and vehicles had left.

The Council continues to work with the BBC and events team who are helping with the reinstatement of the park, with some areas already starting to 'green up' again.

Two specialist contractors have also attended the park to give their advice on how to best help the affected areas. Both have advised that it is best to leave the ground to recover and dry out and to reseed where needed in the spring.

A priority for the parks team has been to clear all the paths of mud and we are in the process of arranging to have these cleaned further to allow better access through the site.

The Council is advising people to be careful when using the park as some of the ground is still uneven, to stick to the paths wherever possible and to watch where they are walking.

Councillor Freddie Bailey, Cabinet Member for Environment and Community Safety said:

Anyone who attended the event or saw the footage of the Sunday knows just how much rain we had in a short space of time. Unfortunately, due the large numbers of visitors and heavy footfall in some areas of the park, damage to parts of the park were inevitably unavoidable.

 

"The public have been really supportive and we'd like to say thank you for understanding that the damage caused really was out of our control. As proud Prestonians, we have been very pragmatic and appreciate that the grass will grow back again in time, with a little help and care from our team of fantastic gardeners!

 

"We have prioritised getting the football back up and running on the site and have already marked up two new pitches with a plan for the third one in the coming weeks. We are liaising with the local football league as to when we can start to use them."

The Councils team of gardeners continue to work on the site daily to ensure that the areas that are unaffected by the event are kept clean and tidy, as the park is expected to look.

The two children's play areas, basketball courts, tennis courts and skate park remain unaffected by the event.